The present invention relates to a piston combustion engine. Such a piston combustion engine is known, for instance, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,797.
Such piston combustion engines afford the possibility of achieving previously unattained efficiencies by the use of very high pressure ratios of more than 1:25 and the reduction of the pressure of the exhaust gases to 1 bar, with the simultaneous possibility of supercharging the cylinders.
Such a possibility is only afforded by the construction in accordance with the invention, which is characterized by the elimination of the oscillating masses and of any valve control and of a rotary cylinder which is mounted free of forces, whereby the very high lateral forces occurring at high pressures on the cylinder wall remain ineffective. Drive-shaft offsets, such as cranks, are unsuitable with such high pressure ratios due to the unavoidable bending and the jamming caused thereby.
From the patent literature, a large number of constructions with rotating cylinders are known which contain features of the above invention, with which, however, it is not even approximately possible to attain the above purposes. British patent 469.883 discloses a construction which uses traditional connecting rods and crankshafts in a rotary cylinder. Another British patent, 126,109, discloses a construction which uses a rotating cylinder as drive member. British patent 114,667 describes a traditional radial cylinder engine in a rotating cylinder. A similar construction with traditional cranks is described in another British patent, No. 565,652. British patent 1734 from 1914 discloses a construction with crank-controlled pistons, the force being taken from the rotating cylinder. French 935.520 shows a construction by crankshaft-controlled pistons in a rotating cylinder with the use of valve timing gear. French 1.262.597 shows a construction in which the rotating cylinder is used as control member and the pistons oscillate back and forth. U.S. Pat. No. 2,273,025 shows the construction of a traditional radial cylinder engine in which the rotating cylinder is used merely as control. Finally, Swiss 418725 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,797 show a construction by means of crankshaft-controlled pistons, the speed of rotation of the rotating cylinder being in a ratio of 1:2 to the drive shaft. High pressure ratios cannot be used in these engines due to high lateral forces on the cylinder wall, since the rotary cylinder is not supported in a manner free of forces. The obtaining of forces from the rotary cylinder is not possible for high pressure ratios since the action of the lateral forces on the side walls is not eliminated by such constructions, and high pressure ratios can also not be used. The other constructions proposed with crankshafts are not possible for the above-mentioned reasons of bending and jamming. Traditional valve controls prevent a high efficiency.